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Comments of the Week: Unions, Komen and the Super Bowl

Comments of the Week: Unions, Komen and the Super Bowl

Each week we post a run-down of the best of our reader comments with the hopes of highlighting some of your most valuable insights and encouraging more people to join the fray. Let us know what you think—in the comments!

February 3, 2012

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Each week we post a run-down of the best of our reader comments with the hopes of highlighting some of your most valuable insights and encouraging more people to join the fray. Let us know what you think—in the comments!

Peter Gatliff: My wife was a Republican from Iowa. She supported Planned Parenthood. She also passed away due to breast cancer not caught in time. I had planned to donate money from my book on the subject and how it affects the family. But Susan G. Komen has let politics get in the way of preventing women from dying an early horrible death. She will not get a dime from this family.In response to Katha Pollitt’s “The Komen Foundation Pinkwashes Anti-choicers, Punks Planned Parenthood.” February 1, 2012

DreamBoatAnnie: Through their web of political influence, billionaire political operatives Charles and David Koch have bought access to democracy’s lifeblood: free and fair elections. The Koch brothers have funded efforts to thwart 21 million Americans from voting and Koch dollars helped write and propose voting suppression bills in 38 states. Voter suppression laws passed around the U.S. will put ballot boxes out of reach or millions of Americans eligible to vote, many of whom are minorities, physically disabled, students and seniors. Walker tried to thwart the recall effort by using fake democratic candidates to force primary runoffs. Now he’s manipulated your constitutional right to participate in elections by demanding that every voter have a picture ID in order to vote, but he then closed 10 DMV offices in democratic districts where people need go to get their ID’s in order to extend hours in republican districts. Just like efforts by Ohio’s Gov to manipulate early voting, mail-in votes and same day registration. This attack on our voting rights is an affront to our democracyIn response to John Nichols’s “How Scott Walker and ALEC Plotted the Attack on Arizona’s Unions.” February 2, 2012

Rftulie: Right on, Dave! The NFL and its media shills, especially during the playoffs, come off as unashamedly militaristic and rightwing. As a lefty, I’m embarrassed that I watch, but I’m a sports junkie since childhood and I guess there’s this testosterone thing. Thanks for telling us about the NFLPA’s specifically stated opposition to "right-to-work" (stupid name, anyway. Why are we on the left still using it, anyway? It’s the same kind of propaganda as the phrase "pro-life!" Whose life? Whose rights?). And good for Occupy for using this opportunity to highlight what is going on in Indiana right now.In response to Dave Zirin’s “Debating the Super Bowl Protests: Is CBS Columnist Gregg Doyel Really Proud to Know Nothing?” February 1, 2012

Charley_James: Greg Doyel’s column is in the great tradition of sports writing, namely pretending that the outside world doesn’t exist and shouldn’t intrude on a game—unless it is a military parade, a general throwing out the first pitch, a politician (usually right wing) showing up in the stands, a costume malfunction during the halftime show, and so on. Doyel is as tone deaf as Mitt Romney!In response to Dave Zirin’s “Debating the Super Bowl Protests: Is CBS Columnist Gregg Doyel Really Proud to Know Nothing?” February 1, 2012

Pro Labor: Look, what this is all about is money but not the way you might think. The single biggest contributor to the Democratic Party is organized labor, public and private sector. If you limit/eliminate collective bargaining rights or become right to work, you can limit the amount of funds the DNC gets ergo limit the ability of the party. What’s the best way to put someone out of business? Limit/eliminate their income! It’s not about union members wages or pensions or healthcare or vacation days, etc. It’s about limiting the funds to the DNC. That whole line about “be competitive” and the market will work itself out is BS. Nobody, and I mean nobody—hourly, salary, union, non-union–wants to get into a wage competition, because wages and benefits will go down. All it takes is for someone to take a little less and then the next guy under cuts that guy and so on. The snowball starts rolling down hill until we are all at the bottom of the hill. We can’t all own businesses, we can’t all be managers, but we still deserve the right to make our lives better. I’m a union member, I’m also college educated, but I don’t think I could have the life I have without my union. I know my peers in my industry make a little more than half of what I make, but the company they work for is not any cheaper for the customer than mine, look at your phone and cable bill; most phone companies are organized and most cable companies are not. Now, look at your bill…see that much difference? Don’t believe the hype!In response to John Nichols’s “How Scott Walker and ALEC Plotted the Attack on Arizona’s Unions.” February 2, 2012